diff --git a/net/sunrpc/cache.c b/net/sunrpc/cache.c
index af17b00145e1..a8ab98b53a3a 100644
--- a/net/sunrpc/cache.c
+++ b/net/sunrpc/cache.c
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ static void cache_init(struct cache_head *h, struct cache_detail *detail)
 	h->last_refresh = now;
 }
 
+static inline int cache_is_valid(struct cache_head *h);
 static void cache_fresh_locked(struct cache_head *head, time_t expiry,
 				struct cache_detail *detail);
 static void cache_fresh_unlocked(struct cache_head *head,
@@ -100,6 +101,8 @@ struct cache_head *sunrpc_cache_lookup(struct cache_detail *detail,
 			if (cache_is_expired(detail, tmp)) {
 				hlist_del_init(&tmp->cache_list);
 				detail->entries --;
+				if (cache_is_valid(tmp) == -EAGAIN)
+					set_bit(CACHE_NEGATIVE, &tmp->flags);
 				cache_fresh_locked(tmp, 0, detail);
 				freeme = tmp;
 				break;